Usefulness of SFAS no. 52 in controlling and evaluating overseas operations: An empirical analysis

This study investigates whether managers of multinational enterprises prefer financial statements prepared under the current-rate or temporal method of translating foreign-currency-based financial statements into U.S.-dollar financial statements. The article also reports on the managers’ preferences for various indicators (for example, profit) of performance that are used in evaluating and controlling overseas operations. A questionnaire was sent to each of the “Fortune 500” firms. One hundred sixty-five (33 percent) responded. The research extended prior research by finding that in the late 1980s managers maintained their preference for U.S.-dollar-based statements just as they did in the 1970s and early 1980s. Managers still consider profit to be the strongest measure of success. However, the comparison of budgeted performance to actual performance has replaced return on investment as the second most important performance indicator.     

Determinants of Sales Destinations of U.S. Multinational Firms' Affiliates in Developing Countries

This study examines the determinants of the sales of .U.S. multinational firms' affiliates to alternative destinations, including sales to other affiliate firms in a host country and a source country markets as well as sales to other non-affiliate persons in each market. Sample host countries are drawn from developing economies where U.S. multinational firms had affiliate firms during the period 1983–1998. The results of the study reveal that affiliates of multinational firms manipulate sales to minimize international taxation. This is supported by the finding that foreign corporate income taxes: affect sales between affiliate firms favorably, unlike its impacts on sales of affiliates to non-affiliate persons in both a host country and source country markets. Considering all markets together, economic volatility and political instability have minimal impacts on sales of affiliates to other affiliate firms compared to their impacts on sales to non-affiliate persons. The results also confirm that host countries' economic policy reforms and membership in multinational investment guarantee agencies facilitate sales of affiliates to other affiliate firms.     

U.S. Advertising Agency Productivity

Advertising agency growth through mergers and ac- quisitions became a common strategy in the 1980s, pdculady among the largest finns in the indusby, yet little research has examined ils effects. In this study, U.S. advertising agency size and mergers and acquisitions are related to agency productivity. Size was found to be a clear advantage for advertising agencies, as larger firms were consis- tently more productive in both b i g s and gross income per em- ployee. The postmerger performance of merging and acquiring ad- vertising agencies was worse for most of those firms than their prior Formance when compared to firms of similar size, indicating that tlus strategy for growth tends to be less successful in the short-run.     

Analysis of Relative Growth Rates Between Domestic and International Earnings of U.S. Based Publicly Traded Restaurant Firms

ABSTRACT

This study explores the relative growth rates in earnings of public restaurant firms for a 20-year period from 1981-2000. No significant differences were found in sales growth between multinational and domestic restaurant firms. However, multinational firms significantly outperformed domestic firms in growth of operating income and pre-tax profitability. Multinational restaurant firms also had significantly lower negative growth in domestic earnings when compared to domestic firms. The results imply that multinational restaurant firms are more efficient than domestic firms in converting sales into profits.     

Subsidiary strategy of emerging market multinationals: A home country institutional perspective

We examine the effects of home country institutional factors, namely, home country government support, domestic institutional weaknesses, and state ownership on the subsidiary-level strategy of global integration (I) and local responsiveness (R) of emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs). We draw upon the home country institution-based view and the I/R framework to develop our theoretical model. We empirically test our hypotheses using an original new survey data collected from Chinese multinational subsidiary managers supplemented with parent-level and country-level data. We find that home country government support and domestic institutional weaknesses have significant and negative effects on global integration strategy of Chinese multinational subsidiaries. On the other hand, domestic institutional weaknesses push foreign subsidiaries to pursue local responsiveness strategy. Nevertheless, those with greater degree of state ownership in their parent firms are neither willing to disintegrate from their parent firms nor motivated to pursue local responsiveness strategy in order to deal with home country institutional deficiencies and develop new sources of competitiveness in foreign markets. Our findings have advanced the literature on subsidiary strategy in the context of EMNEs, and provide important implications for subsidiary managers and policy makers.     

The U.S. Multinational Advertising Agency and Public Policy

The overseas activities of U.S. multinational advertising agencies raise several important public policy issues. Host governments are likely to watch U.S. advertising agencies for unwanted signs of domination over local firms. They will also be sensitive to undesirable cultural influence along with several other real or imagined evils.

The U.S. government is unlikely to have significant interest in the specific activities of multinational advertising agencies. But. advertising agencies should be very wary of the impact of indirect regulation. Agency operation is going to be caught up in the increasing web of legislation designed for general regulation of multinational businesses.     

Does intellectual property rights reform spur industrial development?

An extensive theoretical literature generates ambiguous predictions concerning the effects of intellectual property rights (IPR) reform on industrial development. The impact depends on whether multinational enterprises (MNEs) expand production in reforming countries and the extent of decline in imitative activity. We examine the responses of U.S.-based MNEs and domestic industrial production to a set of intellectual property rights reforms in the 1980s and 1990s. Following reform, MNEs expand the scale of their activities. MNEs that make extensive use of intellectual property disproportionately increase their use of inputs. There is an overall expansion of industrial activity after reform, and highly disaggregated trade data indicate higher exports of new goods. These results suggest that the expansion of multinational activity more than offsets any decline in imitative activity.     

Pricing in marketing strategies of U.S.- and foreign-based companies

This study examines the role of pricing in marketing plans of U.S.- and foreign-based companies operating in the United States. Concurrently, two other issues, centrality of pricing decisions and pricing objectives, are examined. One objective of this study is to complement prior research, which has suggested the existence of managerial differences in other marketing and nonmarketing areas between U.S.- and foreign-based firms.The results, based on a mail survey and personal interviews, show that some differences exist between the U.S.- and foreign-based firms so far as the pricing element of their marketing plans is concerned. Pricing decisions are also shown to be more centrally made in the U.S.-based firms than in the foreign-based firms. Distribution of pricing objectives of the two types of firms, however, were not significantly different from one another. Group mean scores for pricing objectives, on the other hand, do suggest some fundamental differences.     

The influence of strategic patterns of internationalization on the accuracy and bias of earnings forecasts by financial analysts

This paper examines how financial analysts’ earnings per share forecasts are affected by strategic patterns that multinational firms have used to expand abroad. Prior empirical studies have examined a firm's internationalization level as a one-dimensional construct involving increased task complexity for financial analysts’ forecasting and therefore resulting in lower accuracy and greater optimistic bias in earnings forecasts. In contrast, we use two strategic patterns of internationalization associated with geographic dispersion and cross-border integration to characterize a firm's international strategy, and find different empirical results using a sample of U.S. public companies with domestic and international operations. The empirical evidence suggests that geographic dispersion contributes to increases in forecasting accuracy and decreases in optimistic bias. Further, the results support that cross-border integration leads to decreases in forecasting accuracy. The two strategic patterns of internationalization are a consequence of managerial choices and therefore these results are important for managers, investors and shareholders as they help explain the linkages between international strategies and earnings forecasts by financial analysts.     

The impact of U.S. devaluations on the stock prices of multinational corporations

In recent years, multinational corporations (MNCs) have faced several currency realignments including the U.S. dollar devaluations, and the revaluations of the Japanese yen and German mark. These adjustments precipitate defensive measures such as hedging by MNCs. While the strategies and tactics of such firms in adapting to currency realignments have received increasing attention in the literature [4,5,6,7,8], the question of how the stock prices of MNCs react largely has been ignored. This question is important both from the investors' viewpoint of investment timing and from the viewpoint of MNCs' managers relative to their abilities to use outside financing before and after realignment, as well as to the proper timing of such financing.This article investigates the behavior of stock prices of multinational corporations during two U.S. devaluations. Also, a model is presented which isolates the international component of the MNC's stock prices from its domestic component.     

Minimizing effects of ‘liability of foreignness’: Response strategies of foreign firms in the United States

While anecdotal and research evidence exists supporting the difficulties faced by foreign firms in host nation environments due to liability of foreignness, it is clear that many foreign firms have been successfully operating in the U.S. over the years. This study seeks to understand the strategies foreign firms use to cope with liabilities of foreignness in an alien environment and compete successfully with domestic firms, specifically through boundary spanning. Using a sample of 3861 firms in the U.S., we find that foreign firms on the average underperform compared to domestic firms. We also find these firms take a differing strategic posture to cope with the disadvantages of being a foreign firm compared to domestic rivals. Multiple mediation models indicate that once this strategic posture of foreign firms is controlled for, performance differentials do not exist between foreign and domestic firms.     

Impacts of International Greenfield Investment on Firm Valuation

Our study examines the announcement effects of 343 international greenfield investments by 289 U.S. firms for their impact on shareholder wealth. This paper develops five hypotheses based on the positive‐multinational‐network hypothesis. The evidence indicates that market reactions to announcements by firms entering developing countries are more favorable than those entering developed countries. In addition, the results show that the wealth effect for firms entering a host country for the first time is greater than for those that are already operating within the country. As for the long run, greenfield firms have shown improvement in their operating performance and stock performance. Copyright © 2012 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Workforce diversity initiatives of U.S. multinational corporations in Europe

Although most U.S. multinational corporations have substantial workforce diversity management programs in their U.S. operations, they are only beginning to consider parallel efforts in their overseas subsidiaries and affiliates. The internationalization issue is particularly prominent in the European Union, where competitive, demographic, legal, and political developments make workforce diversity issues unavoidable within the next few years. Instead of simply replicating U.S. programs, however, diversity initiatives in Europe need to adapt to each employer's strategic objectives, degree of organizational integration, and local needs. The experiences of Lucent Technologies Inc. and The Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies illustrate two contrasting approaches. The former has adopted a strongly multidomestic strategy, while the latter has a more global approach. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

(Not So) Easy Come, (Still) Easy Go? Footloose Multinationals Revisited

The central question of this paper is to test whether multinational firms (MNFs) are more likely to exit the local market than domestic firms. Using firm‐level data for Belgium, we estimate a random effects probit model taking into account the endogeneity of firm size, total factor productivity (TFP) and sunk costs in firm exit. Our results highlight two features of the ‘footloose’ nature of MNFs. First, controlling for firm and sector characteristics, the exit probability of MNFs is larger than that of domestic firms. Second, MNFs have a lower sensitivity to TFP and size than do domestic firms. This means that an improvement in economic performance on the local market will not prevent a multinational from closing its local plant as much as it would for a domestic firm.     

EXPANSION STRATEGIES OF U.S. MNCs IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Significant economic activities in the Latin American and Caribbean countries (LACs) since the debt crisis of the early to mid-1980s have created opportunities for U.S. firms to expand their business presence in the region. This study provides evidence on the shareholders' wealth effects of expansion by U.S. firms into the LACs. Three hundred twenty-two announcements of expansion to the LACs by U.S. firms during 1980 1996 are analyzed using event study methodology. Statistically significant excess returns of 0.52 percent are observed for the average expansion. Analysis of subsamples by mode of expansion shows that announcements of both FDI and non-FDI forms of expansion produce positive significant excess re turns. Significant positive reactions are observed for expansion to Brazil. Cross-sectional regression results provide additional insights into the determinants of wealth effects for these announcements.     

International Catalog Mix Adaptation

Abstract

Striking the right balance of adaptation of the international catalog mix may be the key to profitability. U.S. catalog firms, new to international markets, have less experience in adapting than firms in more globalized industries. The literature on international marketing strategy adaptation reveals that this decision depends on the environment, industry, market, product, and characteristics of the firm. This paper examines the influence of market similarity, type of business and the firm's international experience on international catalog adaptation, and explores the effects of catalog adaptation on a firm's performance. We hypothesize that the greater the market similarity, the less likely it is that firms will adjust their catalog. We also argue than adaptation is greater for consumer catalogs than for business-to-business catalogs. A third hypothesis is that more internationally experienced firms will adapt more and a final hypothesis is that a greater degree of adaptation will increase the international catalog performance. The results did not support the association of international catalog adjustment and market similarity, experience, and type of catalog. Findings are mixed both on catalog adaptations and firm performance. We found that some but not all adaptations in the catalog lead to improved performance. We speculate that U.S. catalog firms are making adaptations to reduce the costs of international marketing operations. This cost reduction strategy may not necessarily lead to profitability, thereby discouraging other firms from entering international markets.     

Concurrent sourcing strategy of multinational firms in China: Drivers and performance implications

Concurrent sourcing is critical to multinational firms’ operations in emerging economies, such as China. Despite its prominence, research is lacking on the underlying conditions and performance implications of this strategy. We investigate the driving factors of multinational firms’ concurrent sourcing strategy and test whether concurrent sourcing outperforms other types of sourcing strategies. Our empirical findings suggest that multinational firms tend to choose concurrent sourcing under high levels of institutional regulations. Furthermore, the results show that concurrent sourcing generates better performance at high levels of uncertainties and the performance deficiency of concurrent sourcing can be mitigated when institutional regulations are high.     

Who Invests in the Least Developed Countries?

Abstract

Africa is a giant market with a population of Europe and Japan combined, and highly diversified with respect to culture, natural resources, economic development, and political regimes. Yet, the continent is largely ignored with respect to research on the multinational activities of U.S. firms. In this paper, we provide the first evidence regarding the operating characteristics of U.S. firms that operate in Africa. We find that firms with operations in Africa are larger, more diversified, and more profitable than a matched control sample of multinational firms. This paper also shows that technology firms, manufacturing firms, and mining firms dominate the rest of companies operating in Africa. Certain geographical regions in Africa also seem to attract more companies than others, with Southern Africa being the most preferred region, while Central Africa is the least preferred. Finally, when a multinational firm invests in a specific country in Africa, it tends to do so in several business sectors.     

Management practices in U.S. affiliates of foreign-owned firms: Are “they” just like “Us”?

Despite considerable debate about foreign direct investment in the United States, little research has examined the inner workings of U.S. affiliates of foreign-owned firms. This study examines the management practices in 249 U.S. affiliates of foreign-owned firms. Findings show that practices in marketing, human resource management, and manufacturing tend to more closely resemble the practices of local competitors than those of the foreign parent, whereas for practices in financial control the dominant resemblance is to the parent. Furthermore, findings reveal that affiliates are comprised overwhelmingly of Americans, not only at lower levels of the organization but also in key executive positions, although affiliates of Japanese firms stand apart in their greater reliance on expatriates. Foreign affiliates of multinational firms are revealed as differentiated sets of practices, shaped by the interplay of local responsiveness and internal consistency. The findings also make plain that U.S. affiliates of foreign-owned firms are in many ways very much like American firms. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Firm heterogeneity and the structure of U.S. multinational activity

We use firm-level data for U.S. multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the model of firm heterogeneity presented in Helpman, Melitz, and Yeaple [Helpman, E., Melitz, M., Yeaple, S., 2004. Exports versus FDI with heterogeneous firms. The American Economic Review 94 (1), 300-316.] to make four empirical contributions. First, we show that the most productive U.S. firms invest in a larger number of foreign countries and sell more in each country in which they operate. Second, we assess the importance of firm heterogeneity in the structure of MNE activity. Third, we use the model to identify the mechanisms through which country characteristics affect the structure of MNE activity. Finally, we assess the model's shortcomings in order to inform the development of new theory.